October 2012 Archives

A Minneapolis teacher collapsed in her classroom while she was teaching Monday and died in the hospital later that day, the Star Tribune reported.

Lori Blomme, 40, taught at Menlo Park in northeast Minneapolis for almost ten years, according to the Star Tribune. A School District spokeswoman said that Blomme suffered a "medical emergency," the Star Tribune reported.

The Pioneer Press reported that Blomme collapsed in her classroom on Tuesday after telling her students that she felt faint.

According to the Star Tribune, the school's director, Helen Henly described Blomme as a "committed and caring teacher who dedicated so much of herself to the Menlo Park school community."

The BBC reported that so far at least 32 people have been killed in addition to the power outages and transportation wreckage that storm Sandy caused Monday.

The BBC reported that the US Department of Energy said that at least eight million homes and businesses have lost power due flooding from the storm.

"We had a storm of unprecedented proportions," said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a press conference according to the New York Times.

The New York Times reported that it could take weeks for the state of New York to return to normal.

According to the BBC, other areas of the United States have suffered due to the storm as well. New Jersey received a great deal of damage from the storm. The storm also caused heavy snowfall over the Appalachian mountains.

The proposed ceasefire among warring groups in Syria turned out to be all talk, according to the New York Times.

Fighting broke out Monday in the form of airstrikes and gun fights, the New York Times reported.

"On the ground, it means nothing," said Abu Mufaa, commander of the rebel unit, The Righteous Special Forces Brigade to the BBC.

According to the BBC, the Syrian government has accepted the truce, but rebel parties such as al-Nusra Front had no intentions of doing so. They issued a statement last Wednesday confirming that no truce would be acceptable, the BBC reported.

According to the New York Times, UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed his great disappointment in the failed ceasefire. Brahimi said he will continue to try to reduce the violence.

Most people would agree that the CNN and FOX news corporations couldn't be more different. In many respects, both can seem biased in some way or another. They do have similarities in the multimedia they use to present the news, however.
Both websites have perfected the use of videos to accompany their written web content. The videos offer visuals of the story, which is helpful in allowing the news consumer to fully understand what is going on in the story. For example, in a news story by CNN about a woman who slapped a police officer, the provided video includes a face-to-face interview with the woman and her husband as well as video from the event as it was happening.
The writing that accompanies video news on news websites is usually shorter, probably because people are expected to watch the video to get most of the information. For this particular CNN story, there was only a description of the video's content.
The FOX news website has a similar structure. In a story about Hurricane Sandy, FOX news even included a live satellite view of the hurricane, which is helpful for news consumers to understand the geographical position of the storm and the areas that will be affected. There was also an accompanying video, but this particular story was also completely written out like a typical print news story.

The Star Tribune reported that the opposing group, Minnesotans United for All Families, called the ad inaccurate and misleading.

According to the Star Tribune, the ad opens with a statement that says, "If gay marriage happens here, schools could teach that boys could marry boys."

The Pioneer Press reported that gay marriage is already outlawed in Minnesota and that this won't change whether the amendment passes. According to the Star Tribune, supporters stress the importance of the amendment's passage to prevent future legislators from changing the law. Opponents of the amendment argue that its passage will cement discrimination in Minnesota legislature.

Italy sentenced seven earthquake experts to six years in prison because of their failure to properly alert citizens of the earthquake that killed over 300 people in 2009, the New York Times reported.

The earthquake experts were convicted of manslaughter on Monday, according to the New York Times. Reuters reported Tuesday that Italy's Civil Protection Agency said that this conviction would paralyze future disaster prevention, because it will make other experts reluctant to express their opinions.

"I'm afraid it's going to teach scientists to keep their mouths shut," said Thomas H. Jordan, a professor at the University of Southern California, to the New York Times.

Before the earthquake, the convicted seismologists assessed the risk in a way that was "incomplete, imprecise and contradictory," according to prosecutors of the case, Reuters reported.

Reuters stated that part of the issue is the language with which scientists assess natural disaster situations, making it difficult for people to clearly comprehend the gravity of the problem.

The Star Tribune reported that the company that suffered from a mass shooting last month, Accent Signage, will continue its operations, according to family members.

The Pioneer Press reported that the widow of the founder of the company, Shereen Rahamim, spoke Monday about the strength at tenacity of the employees and stressed that the company intends to rebuild. "Together we will get through it," said Rahamim.

A disgruntled former employee of Accent Sinage shot six employees before shooting and killing himself on Sept. 27.

According to the Star Tribune, the company reopened two weeks ago after being closed due to the shootings. Almost all of the employees have returned to work.

A Star Tribune story about sexual abuse in daycare centers uses a very traditional story structure, starting with the most important information first, then leading to an analysis and explanation of facts later in the story.

The writer started off with the biggest fact: that over 65 children have been sexually abused in child-care centers in Minnesota since 2007. This fact lures the readers in, then the writer elaborates, providing some examples of convicted persons over the last few years.

Then the writer revealed a pattern that an investigation by the Star Tribune discovered. In this case, the pattern was that private, in-home child-care facilities tend to put children in danger more than public institutions, because of failures in judgment.

The remainder of the story is an explanation of what authorities are planning to do to solve the problem.

This story structure is effective because the first few paragraphs provide the most important details, allowing the reader to decide if the rest of the story is worth reading or not. Because it is not a breaking news story, but an investigative one, this structure works better. If people are reading breaking news, they don't want to read a two-page story that breaks down every detail- they just want to know what happened. This type of story, however, allows the reader to feel enlightened by the end of it, because it offers an in-depth explanation of the problem.

It was clear that the writers had been researching this for several years, as they provided facts and data from many years back.

The order of the information is helpful in understanding the story. The biggest fact is placed at the very beginning, and the rest of the story breaks this fact down into parts to be explained. Starting with the big picture is helpful to keep readers from becoming overwhelmed with too much information at the start.

The democratic presidential candidate who lost to Nixon in 1972, George McGovern, died Sunday, the Washington Post reported.

McGovern died at the age of 90 in a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. The cause of death has not yet been disclosed, the Washington Post reported.

According to the New York Times, President Obama called McGovern "a champion of peace," insisting on a progressive government that would protect the vulnerable and fighting for liberal values throughout his life.

McGovern was the son of a minister and supported civil rights while opposing the Vietnam War, both of which contributed to his loss against Nixon, the Washington Post reported.

The democratic presidential candidate who lost to Nixon in 1972, George McGovern, died Sunday, the Washington Post reported.

McGovern died at the age of 90 in a hospice in Sioux Falls, S.D. The cause of death has not yet been disclosed, the Washington Post reported.

According to the New York Times, President Obama called McGovern "a champion of peace," insisting on a progressive government that would protect the vulnerable and fighting for liberal values throughout his life.

McGovern was the son of a minister and supported civil rights while opposing the Vietnam War, both of which contributed to his loss against Nixon, the Washington Post reported.

The Minnesota State High School League is investigating a fight that broke out at the end of a soccer game in Maple Grove on Thursday, the Star Tribune reported.

The teams, Totino-Grace High School and Prairie Seeds Academy, were playing to determine who would advance to the state tournament.

The Star Tribune reported that Prairie Seeds Academy was up 2-1 when a fight broke out on the sideline between the players. The MSHSL has the authority to declare the players involved ineligible to compete.

The Pioneer Press reported that at least one Totino-Grace player was injured, requiring stitches.

With the MSHSL and police both investigating the situation, repercussions could include suspension from play and criminal charges, the Pioneer Press reported.

Thieves broke into a Dutch art museum early Tuesday, stealing paintings from prominent artists such as Monet, Picasso and Gaugin, the Star Tribune reported.

"Those thieves got one hell of a haul," Chris Marinello, director of the Art Loss Register, told the Associated Press.

The Monet paintings, taken from Rotterdam's Kunsthal Museum, are worth "considerable value" according to USA Today.

Marinello told the Associated Press (reported in Star Tribune) that the thieves don't have many options at this point. Interpol sent a bulletin to inform other countries of the theft, so selling the paintings at an auction is out of the question.

The museum closed Tuesday to allow the police to investigate. It will reopen Wednesday.

A St. Francis woman hit six pedestrians near the University of Minnesota campus Sunday afternoon, the Star Tribune reported.

Kristine J. Peterson, 32, was arrested for driving drunk after sending six people to Hennepin County Medical Center when she hit them with her car at the intersection of Washington Avenue SE and Oak Street, the Star Tribune reported.

According to the Pioneer Press, Peterson was taken to Hennepin County Jail Sunday evening for a single count of driving while intoxicated and was released later that night.

The death toll for the Accent Signage workplace shooting has grown to six as of Wednesday night, the Star Tribune reported.

Eric Rivers was critically wounded in the shooting on Sept. 27. After being in Hennepin County Medical Center for two weeks, Rivers was removed from life support Wednesday night, the Pioneer Press reported.

Rivers' wife wrote on his CaringBridge website that the damage to his brain "is severe and something that no one can recover from," the Pioneer Press reported.

Rivers was shot by Andrew Engeldinger, 46, who was disgruntled after being fired from the company, according to the Star Tribune.

The Star Tribune reported that the United States sent troops to Jordan to aid in defense in case the violence with its neighbor, Syria, escalates, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday.

The Star Tribune reported that the defense secretary is concerned about chemical weapons in Syria. Troops are in Jordan to help deal with Syrian refugees and keep a close eye on these weapons.

The New York Times reported that there is concern that violence will spread throughout the region, with border issues involving Iraq and Turkey.

The New York Times also reported that Americans have been in Jordan since the summer, training and preparing Syrians for the turmoil. "We have been working closely with our Jordanian partners on a variety of issues related to Syria for some time now," said George Little, Pentagon press secretary.

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky received his sentence Tuesday after being charged with sexual assault in multiple cases, the Star Tribune reported.

Sandusky will spend the next 30 to 60 years in prison, a sentence that guarantees the rest of the 68-year-old's life to be behind bars, according to the Star Tribune.

The sentence has all but smoothed over the issues, however. USA Today reported that Penn State University is still stuck in countless legal cases, many of Sandusky's victims preparing to file lawsuits against the university and their lack of action.

"This is not just about writing a check," said lawyer Ben Andreozzi to USA Today. "It's about acknowledging that they did wrong and doing something about it."

The Star Tribune reported that the victims' lawyers were satisfied with the decision.

Steroid injections have been linked to an outbreak of meningitis in hundreds of Minnesota patients, the Star Tribune reported Monday.

The patients received the injections to relieve pain in their spines. According to the Star Tribune, hundreds out of the 830 people who were injected reported experiencing symptoms typical of meningitis.

The steroid shots were created by the New England Compounding Center, which distributed the shots to two Twin Cities clinics, Medical Advanced Pain Specialists and the Minnesota Surgery Center, the Star Tribune reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that any patient who has had this type of injection since May 21 should see a doctor if they experience any symptoms of meningitis, USA Today reported.